Reflections on October 2 Workshop (finally!)

October 2, 2008
American Antiquarian Society

Tom Doughton gave an overview of the topics to be covered in this academic year. The emphasis this year will be on the 19th century, considered to be a crucial time for native Americans in New England. He spent time discussing the truism/myth that is the core of 19th century historiography, and this is that the “once great and glorious natives have disappeared”. Tom provided documents that we will delve into in later workshops, including the 1830 story of “Thundersquall”, a romantic story purported to examine the lives of settlers and Natives from the 1700s.

Discussion then moved to a review of the historical view of European settlement of the Americas. This was the point of the assigned reading “Jehovah and the Uncouth Wilderness”. The Europeans had a divinely-guided destiny to employ this land. The historiography thus required that the native people disappear.

Tom also handed out notes relating to the history of Native Americans from the era of the Revolution to removal.

Alice Nash then introduced the concepts of “ocular” and “specular” as ways of viewing and interpreting historical data and artifacts. She presented the ideas in the context of the history, development, and celebration of Thanksgiving. This related to the theme of the once friendly and generous natives who had to be removed, and have now disappeared from our lives except in the perpetuation of 19th century historical mythology.

Following lunch, we broke into small groups to review and discuss lessons we have prepared and/or taught using the materials, content, and concepts provided in the first year and in the Summer Institute.

As usual, I found all of these elements interesting, engaging, and useful. Tom’s questions always provide me with new ways to think about history, and to point out those areas where I have too little knowledge – i.e. where are the Native Americans of New England, what happened to them, why did it happen, etc. I assume that close review of Tom’s notes, review of assigned readings throughout the coming year, and the workshops provided will provide much of the material I need to answer my questions about history. I would like to follow-up on Alice Nash’s discussion of ocular and specular. I thought I understood these when she presented it, but now I’m not so sure, and I think these are important concepts. With my advanced juniors, in particular, I want to help them understand that history is complex, and perceptions always color our understanding of history. I suppose that I should contact Ms. Nash and ask for more clarification and/or readings about this (I did a quick look on the internet but have only come up with the physics of the terms).

There are a variety of ways I can foresee using these materials in the classroom. When teaching the American Revolution it will be nice to expand the discussion of the impact of the Revolution to include more on the Native Americans. One possibility will be to use the songs “Crawford’s Defeat by the Indians”, and “St. Clair’s Defeat”. Students can be asked to respond to these in various ways – identifying facts, writing a news report based on the facts, looking for issues of bias and point of view, identifying the portrayal of the natives as well as of the soldiers, rewriting the songs from the point of view of the natives, etc. Our texts usually note that the Indians were not happy with the defeat of the British, and that these battles occurred as Americans and natives adjusted to their new situations. Using these songs provides additional and interesting content and context, while using another type of primary source. I could also incorporate the Thanksgiving information when looking at culture and society in the late 19th century and early 20th century, especially the celebrations surrounding the Colombian Exposition, etc.

The relationship between representation and reality in the history of New England natives is not new to me. The materials presented in this seminar continue to broaden and deepen my knowledge and understanding. TAH provides me with current historiography as well as access to appropriate resources, both primary and secondary, to use in my teaching.